Politically Obsessed

Government has become far too large to ignore

We have been coming to the US regularly for over 20 years and have developed a deep respect for Americans and the messy, imperfect project that is the USA. And as such I have developed an intense interest in their history and political system.

And here I sit in North Carolina on Nov 6^th 2024, the day after “the most important election in history” or at least the latest “most important election in history”. Trump has won, and the republic is either saved - or doomed - depending on your political leanings.

The fact that so many people think this election was existential - and the fact that it might actually be true - suggests politics has grown far too important in our lives. We should be reading great books, tending gardens, hugging our parents or spouses or kids, cooking a great meal, or focusing on our work. We should argue about issues. Instead, we obsess about politics.

Too Big to Ignore

Sadly I think that obsession is unavoidable. Government has grown so huge, so intrusive, so all-powerful, that we must attend to it obsessively because it is now a genuine threat to us all.

We should remember the words of Thomas Jefferson

Back in the day when programs to help addicts were run by volunteers and donations, I may have felt that you were being too much of a soft touch with addicts. But that wasn’t really my business. It’s your time, and your money – do what you want with it. We could disagree and carry on with our lives.

But when such programs are run by the government, people understandably become more fractious. Using my tax money to buy drugs for the already-addicted, while at the same time failing to enforce vagrancy, loitering, and public nuisance laws, makes me angry. It’s my tax dollars being spent on “free” drugs, and not something more useful, so I necessarily take an interest.

Thanks for spending so much of my tax dollars on “harm reduction” instead of policing. Much appreciated.

As government has taken over more and more of the societal functions that used to be the realm of family, community, and the individual, we are forced to care more about politics. Housing the homeless, solving addiction, dictating what type of garage you can build, how many of your trees you can cut down, whether you need a license to cut hair or to fix bicycles – the government is now a big part of your life, like it or not. Bureaucratic tendrils have grown into every nook and cranny of your existence. The adage attributed originally to Pericles becomes more true as government grows larger and more intrusive.

Was it predictable that we need more rules?

Some argue that the scope and power of government has inevitably enlarged as our societal foundations have crumbled. John Adams said:

"We have no Government armed with Power capable of contending with human Passions unbridled by morality and Religion. Avarice, Ambition, Revenge or Gallantry, would break the strongest Cords of our Constitution as a Whale goes through a Net."

If one accepts this, then it makes sense that as religion, shared foundational myths, and collective purpose has eroded - things that traditionally gave us direction so that we could live together peacefully despite our differences - the “Net” that Adams referred to has had to be made stronger and tighter. Add to this the progressive managerialist idea that if given enough power, “experts” can design a better society than one left to be formed by individual choices and preferences, and we have a recipe for ever-increasing government power.

Three Felonies Per Day

And thus we end up with a system where there is so much legislation that the average person in the USA can’t help but commit three felonies per day.

Since every breach of rules can’t possibly be prosecuted, enforcement is necessarily arbitrary and often political. It is such a system that can threaten to put you out of business because your website doesn’t meet requirements for serving blind patrons. It is such a system that can on the one hand obstruct the building process with red tape while at the same time lamenting the lack of available housing and putting millions into programs to incentivize building. It is such a system that can assign multiple armed officers to seize and kill a pet squirrel and raccoon, while at the same time not finding the manpower to respond to break-ins.

Just ask Elon Musk, who during a recent conversation with Joe Rogan explained that Space-X was sued by the Department of Justice for discriminating against “asylum seekers” (there is legislation that prohibits this). This was done even though as a company that has implications for national security, Space-X cannot employ “asylum seekers” or anyone else who is not a citizen or green card holder. Whether he hired them or not, he was breaking the law. And Elon was an obvious target of a bureaucracy who don’t like the cut of his political jib. I see Elon as a guy who is a reluctant general in the culture wars; someone who would rather be taking his time and incredible intellect to make Mars habitable for humans or solving LA’s traffic problems by tunnelling under the city, not stumping for Trump. But here he is, like so many of us.

Are you seriously charging me with that?!

A system that kills pet squirrels and harasses political wrongthinkers demands our attention. And so we obsess about politics. Each side shrieks and wails to elect it’s golden calf to set upon the throne, hoping for some magic that will “save the republic”.

We are currently trapped in a negative feedback loop. As we pay more attention to politics, we ignore the more fundamental cultural decay that is empowering Big Government and forcing us to care more about it. Although politics does require our attention, politics is downstream of culture - a culture that needs reinvigoration through tending its foundations of family, community, and faith.